Fairy Tale
by Lazy Stitch
Summary: Even in a world with creatures like dragons that have human forms, life isn't a fairy tale. It's a sad day for him to fall in love with a human girl that has an expiration date when he's immortal. (Gajevy/GaLe AU one-shot, kinda angst-y)


**Disclaimer** : Hiro Mashima owns Fairy Tail.

 **Inspiration** : "'There's no way to turn a human into an immortal and all I ever wanted was to grow old with you but that's impossible for me.' -au " from cup-of-hot-coffee on Tumblr.

 **\- Fairy Tale -**

It's their seventh date. He feels he knows her pretty well, her hopes and dreams and favorite things, and he knows he could be happy with this girl. There's only one problem: she's a human.

"Gajeel, come on! There's an arcade!"

She grins up at him. He's not entirely sure _why_ , exactly, this little human girl, Levy McGarden, had caught his eye. She was five foot nothing and resembled a nymph more than anything with her unmanageable wavy blue locks and bright brown eyes that had a honey-like sparkle in the setting sun. Her skin was pale and dusted with pink that would surely turn red by tomorrow because they'd been at the beach all day (at her request - Gajeel wasn't very fond of overly populated places like beaches). Levy looked like an innocent sort of girl, but… his eyes darted downward to the wide hips and generous backside barely covered by her orange sundress. He smirked, reaching under the flouncy hem to pull teasingly at the strings keeping her yellow bikini bottom secure on her lower half. Gajeel was the one privy to what a little minx she was beneath the seemingly pure exterior she had (okay, she _was_ pretty innocent, and he was tainting her in more ways than one, but he didn't start her "bad" behavior!).

"Stop! You had your fun this morning." Levy whirled on him, cheeks puffing indignantly. Gajeel snickered, flicking her in the forehead gently.

"Yeah, 'n ya've had yer fun fer the rest of the day. I can tease ya, Shrimp – it's what 'boyfriends' do, innit?" He winked at her lecherously, causing her to roll her eyes and mutter choice words under her breath that only made him laugh even more.

"Keep it in your pants and your hands to yourself for a while longer, Gajeel." Levy chastised, turning back around with an aggravated flourish that gave him a flash of pale yellow covering skin his hands were itching to grab or pinch. Gajeel was damn sure the devil had given her that backside because there was no way the gods would have given a girl like Levy something as tempting as _that_.

"That ain't fun. Thought ya liked holdin' my hand, Shortstuff?" He questioned, trying to sound innocent, as he reached down and grabbed her tiny hand in his own.

"This calloused thing? Don't flatter yourself." Levy grumbled, but she intertwined their fingers and tightened her grip on his hand. Gajeel snorted, rolling his eyes. He'd played around with human girls before, but Levy was different. He actually _liked_ interacting with her. He _liked_ touching her cool body (every bit of it, but he was currently thinking about the more annoying human habits of public displays of affection like hand holding and the like). He _liked_ listening to her speak or read – in fact, he liked her voice so much that he got her to read to him. Gajeel feigned dyslexia and poor reading habits when she asked why he didn't read himself, but the truth was he couldn't read or write in human languages. They were all too curvy for his hands, which were used to the much spikier and angular forms of writing (or not writing at all because, really, it was annoying as hell) common to his species.

"Yeah, yeah… what'cha wanna go to 'n arcade for?" Gajeel inquired, peering past Levy disinterestedly at the open arcade she was leading him to. It was one of the handful of arcades spread across the boardwalk, and the only difference he could see so far from the last one were the toys in the crane games Levy was making a beeline to. He knew the answer to his question when he spied the plush toys inside of the last machine in the line. Levy's favorite movie was (ironically) "How to Train Your Dragon," and the last machine had miniature plushies of the dragons in the movie.

"I'm going after Toothless!" Levy grinned, reaching inside her bag for her wallet when they neared it, but Gajeel was already ahead of her. The only reason why he had human money was because of Levy, so he saw no reason not to insert a dollar in the machine before she could. Why make her spend her money, which she'd need because she depended on it, when he just had it for literally no reason at all but her? And if he ever decided to take a jaunt in his human form, but _that_ never happened because Gajeel didn't particularly like humans. He knew the Salamander was overly fond of them, finding them weird and amusing and all-around good company, but he wasn't the Salamander. Gajeel enjoyed being by himself… or, rather, he had until he'd spied Levy…

" _Come on, metal head. It'll only be for a few hours – three, tops, I promise."_

 _Gajeel opened one red eye, peering lazily down at the Salamander already in his human form. It amused Gajeel to no end that the fire dragon had pink hair as a human; no one was sure why it was pink instead of red, to match Natsu's scales, but it was funny as hell. Natsu had grumbled and complained the first time he saw it, but now he defended the spiky pink locks to the death. It made him "_ special _," apparently. Gajeel didn't care how Natsu phrased it: the dragon's hair was girlishly pink and that was that._

" _Why do you even need me, anyways?" Gajeel groused, not even caring for Natsu's safety as he stretched his front legs in front of him. He'd been sleeping for a long time, maybe a few human years, and it felt good to move his rusted muscles._

" _I met a human girl – one of the weirdest ones yet. I think her name is Luigi. She'd only meet up with me again if it was on a 'double date.'" Natsu explained, grumpily moving away from the talons that were easily half as big as his human form was tall._

" _The fuck would I go with you for_ that _?" Gajeel snarled, snapping his maw audibly in ire. He didn't_ like _humans;_ everyone _knew that!_

" _Hey! I'm begging you here! I already went to Laxus and Sting, but they're not gonna do it! Laxus wanted – well, what he waned in return was impossible, and Sting said he'd only go if Rogue came… but there can't be three guys and two girls on a double date." Natsu explained his dilemma, waving a hand in front of his nose in an attempt to dispel the smell of dragon breath from in front of him. Gajeel growled from his throat, turning away from the stupid Salamander. No way in hell would he go on a "double date" with Natsu, let alone to go see_ human _girls. Human girls were too chatty and always smelled too strongly of perfume (which was probably mostly because he had a heightened sense of smell, but Gajeel liked blaming the girls instead). And the ones Natsu ended up liking were… well,_ weird _._

" _I'll do what you want, Gajeel, in return! Unless you're like Laxus and are completely unreasonable." Natsu pleaded, clamoring around the rocks and scaly limbs to stand in front of Gajeel's face again._

" _Tch. Write me a song – a damn good one, one that_ I'd _appreciate. No complainin' at how I look. And ya gotta find me some good metals fer a month. Is that 'Luigi' weird enough fer that?"_

 _The only way to get rid of Natsu was to go along with his plans or be a complete ass like Laxus, and Gajeel knew that. He couldn't help his bubbling curiosity as to what human girl had Natsu practically on his knees in front of Gajeel trying to get him to go along with the "double date" thing. Natsu was generally very fond of humans, which was strange for a dragon, but he never really succumbed to their requests or whims. If a human girl wanted a double date, he'd generally decline or find a way out of it; Natsu was crafty like that._

" _Definitely weird enough. I think I'll be her friend for a while… until the age thing becomes a problem." Natsu grinned, throwing his arms up in the air in triumph. Gajeel snorted at him, thumping his tail against the ground to unsettle him._

" _Now, I know you got me to promise to not complain about your looks, but – hear me out! – you might need new clothes. When was the last time you went out as a human? I don't think you have clothes in the current style, and Laxus sure as hell ain't gonna let you borrow his stuff." Natsu tutted, clamoring over Gajeel's front legs and back to head to the end of his large cage to root around the dusty, tattered human clothes kept hidden there. From what Natsu could tell, the last time Gajeel had been out was when the humans had that fun time before their money went to shit – Roaring Twenties, if he remembered correctly. There was a tattered light gray suit that was faded to a nasty white (and it seemed to be housing spider eggs in the jacket collar), but the white button-down that went with it was redeemable. The oxford bags pants were also worth saving._

" _You got some fancy duds… they'd be enough to take a quick jaunt into town for you to pick out stuff from this century." Natsu said, twitching his ears at the low hum emitting from Gajeel. He didn't look away from the clothes, knowing Gajeel switching from his natural dragon form to his loathed human form caused the irregular hum._

" _You know, maybe you would like humans more if you got rid of all that metal. You attract the type of people that just set you off with it because they think you're dangerous or something." Natsu commented, tossing the button-down and pants over his shoulder. Standing at an intimidating six foot three (by human measurements) with what humans perceived to be piercings all over his body, Gajeel's human form was perfect for the raunchier of humans. The women he'd last been around wanted a fun time without their husbands knowing, and the men always wanted to pick a fight with someone who looked like a street rat in stolen glad rags. Now, Natsu knew Gajeel would be average-looking (or as average-looking as he could get) because the style Gajeel favored as a human was now a fad. He had a feeling Gajeel would like it outside a bit more._

" _Tch. Whatever. Ya know I can't help th' metal like ya can't help but feel unnaturally warm to humans. Show me th' way to a damn clothes shop, Salamander." Gajeel grumbled, pulling the oxford bags over his legs and the constricting button-down over his torso. The old shirt caught a bit on the piercings running down his forearms, tearing slightly and causing Gajeel to growl._

" _Yeah, yeah… I'll treat you to the clothes if they don't make you look_ too _ugly."_

" _What was that, Salamander?"_

" _I_ said _, you're fuckin' ugly, more so as a human, so I won't have to be afraid of you stealin' Luigi's attention or her friend actually liking you—"_

" _Yer fuckin'_ dead _, ya pill!"_

 _It took the two of them a half hour before they left Gajeel's cave, and even then it took them longer than needed to get to the town where Natsu had met "Luigi" because they kept quarreling. It took Gajeel no time at all to pick clothes out from the shop Natu took him to, however, since he wasn't_ that _picky when it came to human clothing. He was fine with a couple of "t-shirts" and "blue jeans" and a pair of "working boots" (human clothing had changed considerably, it seemed) since Natsu insisted on getting more than one outfit because there might be more future double dates ("Honestly, I think she just wants to set her friend up. Too bad you're a big disappointment, though"). Gajeel kept on one of the black "wife beaters" (humans had some seriously messed up names for things) and a pair of torn and faded blue jeans and the black work boots while Natsu paid. Glancing around the shop, he was indifferent until he looked out the storefront windows to the street. A tiny sort of human with blue hair (damn, the times really_ had _changed) was looking at her automobile and squawking into a portable phone (cell phone, Natsu had called it). At first glance, Gajeel thought she was a wood nymph, but he didn't detect any magical waves from her, and she smelled completely human. Intrigued, he left Natsu at the register, exiting the store to get a closer look at the human girl._

"… _et I dunno, it won't start, and I'm not sure what's wrong with it._ Yes _, I have the hood popped, and_ no _, I can't see anything wrong because I don't know what a healthy engine looks like." She was saying. Gajeel cocked his head to the side slightly, peering into the "popped hood." Humans had definitely upgraded their modes of transportation, but metals were his forte. Stepping up soundlessly, he leaned into the engine area, breathing in the scents of the metals and other substances with delight. There was one thing he missed from the human world: the way they were able to use metals. He could easily identify the problem even though he wasn't sure what it was called – there were some corroded cables that smelled positively revolting._

" _Oi, Miss, yer problem is there." The words felt incredibly rough from Gajeel's human mouth, and he missed the way his teeth slid against each other. His voice startled the girl, who hadn't noticed his presence, and caused her to scream and drop her cell phone to the asphalt-covered road._

" _Oi, oi, pipe down, god damn it! Yer too fuckin' loud, ya damn jane!" Gajeel growled, covering his ears with his hands. He just_ had _to find the loud humans, didn't he._

" _S-sorry, you scared me…"_

 _His lip curled as she put a hand over her frantically beating heart, noting how her eyes roved over his body. She was probably going to call the police on him. Gajeel knew he looked the part of a hoodlum with his unsightly mane of black curls, bulging muscles, dark skin laced with pale scars, and metal studs all over his face and arms. Preparing to leave before she picked her cell phone up again to get him arrested, he was surprised when she held her hand out to him._

" _I'm Levy, Levy McGarden. What'd you say my car's problem is…?" She trailed off, eyebrows raised questioningly._

" _Hey, you fucking_ shit head _, don't go scaring girls! I swear, I leave you for_ one second _and… sorry 'bout him, Miss, we'll be on our way now." Natsu burst out of the store red-faced, almost tackling Gajeel's back. Instead he settled for whacking Gajeel's side with the bag of clothes he'd just bought._

" _No, it's fine, he's helping me." Levy defended Gajeel before Gajeel could retort anything back to Natsu, offering the pink-haired boy a hesitant smile._

" _Eh?"_

" _Yeah, fuck wit. 'M_ helpin' _her." Gajeel sneered at Natsu before returning his attention to Levy. He took her hand roughly, shaking it._

" _Gajeel Redfox, at yer service… Shrimp."_

That had certainly been an interesting day, Gajeel reflected. He'd certainly been surprised when the double date rolled around and "Luigi's" friend happened to be his little not-a-nymph-and-useless-with-cars Levy McGarden. He'd been even more surprised after the first time he'd been let into her bedroom and she, red faced from embarrassment, pulled him to her, begging him with her mouth, for a second round as soon as the first one had ended. Both of those surprises had been nice, though. Gajeel snickered to himself as Levy started moving the claw around, letting it hover indecisively until the timer sounded and forced the claw downward. Levy cursed quietly as the claw grasped at Toothless' wide, flat head but was stopped from grabbing the rest of his body by his wings.

"Little more to th' left next time, then?" Gajeel commented when he saw she still had two tries left to win a plush toy.

"Yup."

Gajeel narrowed his eyes at Levy, watching her concentrate on working the claw over the toys in the machine. Her dominant hand was her right, but she was maneuvering the joystick with her left because her right was currently attempting to squeeze the life out of Gajeel's left hand. He knew all her likes and dislikes – had committed them to memory, actually. Levy liked being outdoors even though her profession was indoors and her fair skin didn't take well to the sun. She loved reading, but she couldn't write well. She wasn't big on TV shows or movies, especially ones based off of books she'd read, but she did have a huge soft spot for animated movies. She knew how to make flower crowns and liked wearing dresses that fluttered in the wind. She wished she had a bigger chest (Gajeel figured it was average for humans - but all her friends had enormous knockers, so he figured her inferiority complex came from there) and didn't realize how appealing her ass was (who needed huge breasts when she had an ass he could literally bounce a quarter off of - Gajeel had tried and laughed for about five minutes straight when it worked). She liked lighter, bright colors like orange and yellow. Her favorite flower was the lily, and she liked using lily-scented perfumes and the like. She loved puzzles and riddles and ancient tales. She liked cuddling and spooning. She liked receiving hickeys as much as she liked giving them. She had confessed to wanting to grow old with him (she had said it was because she wanted to see how his piercings looked when he was eighty, but he knew she was lying). She liked _him_.

… And he _liked_ _her_.

It wasn't like him to grow fond of something other than mental and music, but here he was, holding hands with a young woman as she tried to win herself a plushie. He'd watched a movie with her once and put up with Natsu on another "double date" for her. He enjoyed just sitting by her and basking in her incredibly warm presence. Gajeel even liked counting the freckles splashed across her skin because she'd stayed out in the sun too long and got sunburnt (especially when she was lying on her stomach… there were six across the top of her shoulders and another eight danced down her back – he adored tracing lines between all the little brown dots on lazy mornings and making her shiver). He even let her take pictures of him and introduce him to her friends. He allowed her to pull him into things he'd much rather not do because, well, _she_ was there. Gajeel could clearly remember going to her friend's wedding and reception, being surrounded by people he didn't know, but Levy had been his anchor when his head started to swim with so many names, faces, and smells. He hadn't left her side the entire night, and she'd teased him ("You're my arm candy tonight, Gajeel. I thought it's supposed to be the other way around?") relentlessly for it. During the ceremony, he'd been sitting in the crowd by the two men she considered her brothers, Jet and Droy, and he didn't take his eyes off of her, standing up as a bridesmaid, for one second. He could remember all to well how his heart had swelled as the ceremony went on and, instead of watching her friends the whole time, Levy snuck glances at him – sometimes she'd even wink at him. That had been the night when she finally let him in all the way, and it was certainly a night he'd never forget…

" _You have a lot of stamina." Levy laughed, curling her arms around Gajeel's torso to pull herself to his chest. He snorted, rolling his eyes even though she couldn't see it._

" _Shortie, if anyone's got stamina, it's_ you _. Fuckin' red faced but stickin' yer tongue in my mouth like a—"_

" _Sh-shut up!" Levy interrupted him, face burning brighter as she pressed it into his chest. He chuckled, dragging his fingers through her hair in what he assumed was a comforting way. He wasn't sure – feelings were definitely_ not _Gajeel's strong suit._

" _I ain't bein' mean, ya know. Just wasn't expectin' it from you, Miss 'I'm always blushin' an' wouldn't look ya in th' eyes after ya first kissed me.' Shit, I wasn't even expectin' to get laid, much less two times… 'n then you already havin' the rubbers…" Gajeel snickered, pulling teasingly at her hair when he was done speaking._

" _You have a horrible personality, you know? Anyone ever tell you that?" Levy grumbled against his chest, blowing a raspberry against his skin and making him jump._

" _Gihihihi, a few here 'n there, Shrimp. Ya ain't the first."_

" _Makes me wonder what it'd be like growing old with you…"_

" _Eh?"_

 _Gajeel stared at the top of her head, surprise evident in his voice. Because he had better hearing than humans, he knew he_ couldn't _have misheard what she said… but still…_

" _L-like how you age! Your personality, how it'd change as you got older! A-and piercings! I wanna see how the ones on your forearms fare when your skin starts to sag when you're eighty or so." Levy quickly fixed her statement, pulling her face from his chest to look him in the eyes. Her face was incredibly red, but it was also earnest. He didn't know what to make of Levy, the small woman who was quickly taming the heart of a dragon with the way she wore her heart on her sleeve and thus became one of the most adorable things on the planet._

" _Tch, it'd be sexy as hell still, and ya know it, Shrimp." Gajeel stuck his tongue out at her petulantly, going along with her cover-up; he could smell the new adrenaline pouring from her and knew she was lying. He sniggered into her mouth when she pulled his face, tongue out and all, down to her lips to end their conversation._

Gajeel sighed, tearing his eyes away from Levy as she pressed the button for the claw to descend for the second time over Toothless. He was in too deep, and he was now very aware of that fact. Humans aged and died… dragons, however, did not. Gajeel was four hundred and twenty-five in human years, and Levy was only twenty-three. She had an expiration date coming; he did not. For the first time in his life, Gajeel was scared. Fear settled like rocks in his belly, and he couldn't digest them. What the _hell_ was he thinking, getting attached to a _human_! Only the Salamander was that stupid. Originally being with Levy had just been for fun, but now… Snarling mentally, Gajeel gave Levy's hand a little squeeze before pulling his from her grasp. He had to get out while he still could.

"Gotta take a piss, Shrimp." He said as she hissed when the claw picked up Toothless but dropped him soon afterwards.

"I'll wait for you here, then." Levy didn't even turn to face him, too concentrated on winning her prize and completely unaware it would be her last chance to ever see him again. Gajeel smiled to himself, ducking down to press his lips to the corner of her mouth before walking away. He missed her glance at him for the uncharacteristic behavior.

Instead of going to the bathroom, he did what he was the best at: disappearing into the shadows. It wasn't that Gajeel _wanted_ to leave; he _had_ to leave. Both of them were already far too attached to each other than they should be, and sooner or later Levy would start asking things he couldn't answer, like where he lived, where his job was, where he grew up and what his family was like… So far, he'd been able to dodge them by distracting her with kisses or something similar, but he knew she was too smart for that. He was pretty sure she'd stopped asking those things because she figured he had a bad childhood or something and didn't like disclosing information about himself, but if they continued dating, she'd be well within her rights to ask again. And he couldn't very well reply, "Oh, yeah, I hatched from an egg… my ma was dead by that time, but my dad, the best and biggest fuckin' dragon _ever_ , Metalicana, raised me 'n taught me how to hunt 'n stuff. I live in the cave he used ta, and I don't actually work in an auto shop like I told ya 'cause I ain't a human." No, he couldn't tell her _that_ , even though he was sorely tempted to because… well, he shared her desire grow old together.

Gajeel skulked around the boardwalk in the shadows for hours after he'd lied to Levy, making sure she got to her car safely even though she was clearly distressed and worried out of her mind. He didn't want a human male taking advantage of her because of him, so he tortured himself watching her slowly break down from being mildly worried, to searching the boardwalk in case he got lost, to biting her lower lip with glassy eyes when she asked store employees if they'd seen him, to finally letting the tears fall as she hurried to her car. Gajeel knew she was going to call Lucy (who Natsu had somehow first thought was named "Luigi," the moron) immediately because Lucy had Natsu's phone number (he had a cell phone because he went to play with humans, and Gajeel did not have one because he saw no reason to have one). At this time of the night, if Natsu wasn't with Lucy partying somewhere, Gajeel knew Lucy wouldn't be able to get ahold of Natsu because he was probably out hunting somewhere. Gajeel could feel himself start to leave the shadows as her car started up, wanting to go out and comfort her because he knew she wouldn't be getting any, but he stopped himself before he fully left them. What he was doing was for the best. What was that human saying, "nip it in the bud?" Well, he was doing just that. They'd both hurt more the longer Gajeel waited to leave Levy.

A letter arrived at Levy's apartment a day later, written by Natsu for Gajeel, which made her scream and howl and curse.

 _It's for the best…_

 _It's not you; it's me…_

 _Please hate me – I deserve it…_

 _I can honestly say you wormed your way into my ironclad heart, you damn Shrimp…_

Decades down the line, on a bright, sunny afternoon, a large man went unnoticed as he stood still in the shadows a few yards away from the funeral service. His red eyes watched as the casket was lowered into the ground, and the little, pale orange headband with the pink flowers in his hand seemed to scream in protest as he tightened his grip on it. He'd found it in the pocket of one of his jeans a few days after the trip to the boardwalk, and he couldn't bring himself to get rid of it because, even though it brought him pain, it also reminded him of happy times.

"Life ain't a fairy tale, Shrimp." Gajeel muttered to himself, raising his hand with the headband to let it go in the breeze as the casket was covered with dirt. He could still remember the lily-scented perfume it once smelled like, and as it fluttered in the wind, the skin around his nose scrunched and his lips quivered and his eyes burned.

It was all over now. She had grown old without him.

 **A/N** : _Hahahahahaha I'm sorry? Meh, it's not much. I saw the prompt and couldn't help myself. Dunno why bc I really hate angst (but this isn't really angst-y?). Damn plot bunnies. Anyways… expect more one-shots inspired form Tumblr from me bc I literally collect all the AU prompt Tumblr posts I see. I can't help it Gajeel and Levy are so cute and perfect that I want to put them in every situation ever imagined. ;)_

 _Edit: Corrected a few errors and added stuff. I hope this fixes the rushed feel of the ending. c:_

 _~ Tobi_


End file.
